Websites now enable users/applicants to obtain insurance (e.g. health insurance) online via the Internet. However, such websites typically present users simultaneously (e.g., via a single display screen) with a vast amount of detail making it difficult for users to clearly identify what benefits are associated with a particular health insurance plan. Some insurance carriers insist on certain detail being displayed and hence a web page of the online insurance provider may be even more cluttered with information. This is because the health insurance industry is a highly regulated one in which health insurance carriers who underwrite their health insurance plans, and brokers or agents who sell those plans must strictly comply with federal laws that regulate security, privacy and personal medical information (e.g., comply with The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; Gramm-Leach Bliley Act of 1999, and so on). A broker's sales activity is governed by each state in which it operates. If it operates on the Internet, then the broker must comply with the separate rules of each of the fifty states. A broker operating via the Internet must also present a carrier's health insurance plans in a manner that complies with the laws governing the carrier's activities and carriers are regulated by each state as well.
Given this complex regulatory scheme, a user seeking a health insurance plan can often be subjected to information overload. Users desire a simple user interface that clarifies the benefits offered by various health insurance providers. Moreover, unlike the typical Internet shopping experience where a user simply selects and purchases a product, a user seeking health insurance must select and then apply for a health insurance plan. The application will be reviewed by the carrier and only after the carrier approves the application will a user obtain the desired health insurance plan. Thus, users also need to be able to identify the health plans that are more likely to approve their applications.
Finally, health insurance plans are not only user/applicant specific but also geographical location specific. Thus, for each different zip code, there may be different health insurance plans; there are no national plans. Further, it will be appreciated that the information required from a user in order to ascertain which insurance plan is appropriate for the user may differ from user to user.
What is needed then is a process for presenting health insurance information that, on the one hand, complies with all of the regulations governing the sale of health insurance, and on the other is easy to understand.